Industrial Revolution Begins
The nation that kickstarted the Industrial Revolution
Britain
Improved by James Watt in the late 1700s, this machine converted heat into mechanical power and became the driving force of factories, mines, and railways.
Steam Engine
Factory owners, bankers, and merchants made up this growing social class that benefited most financially from industrialization.
Bourgeoisie
This economic system is based on private ownership of businesses and the goal of earning profit.
Capitalism
China’s defeat in these mid-19th-century conflicts exposed its military weakness and helped trigger the Self-Strengthening Movement as officials sought Western technology.
Opium Wars
The rise of these large buildings centralized production, moved work out of homes, and marked a major shift in manufacturing methods.
Factories
First built in the early 1800s, these land-based transportation systems drastically cut shipping costs and opened interior regions to industry.
Railroads
Crowded tenements, polluted air, and contaminated water in industrial cities led to outbreaks of diseases like this deadly waterborne illness.
Cholera
The rise of factory goods and advertising contributed to this growing habit of people buying more products than ever before.
Consumerism
Once unified in 1871, this nation rapidly expanded railroads and steel production, becoming one of Europe’s major industrial powers.
Germany
This metal, made cheaper and stronger after innovations by the Darby family, became essential for building machines, factories, and early railways.
Iron
Invented by Samuel Morse, this device transmitted messages quickly over long distances using coded electrical signals.
Telegraph
This term describes the unpaid housework and childcare that working-class women were expected to complete after returning home from long factory shifts.
The "Second Shift"
According to Marx, this working-class group would one day rise up in a violent revolution to overthrow the bourgeoisie and end capitalism.
Proletariat
Russia’s industrialization lagged behind Western Europe because its economy depended heavily on this unfree labor system until 1861.
Serfdom
This gave inventors the legal right to profit from their inventions.
Patent
Developing identical parts that could fit into any version of a product made manufacturing faster and cheaper through this innovation.
This phrase describes the growing gap between the rich and the working poor that emerged during the Industrial Revolution.
"The Immense Wedge"
This British mill owner built the model town of Saltaire to provide his workers with cleaner housing, safer conditions, and a healthier environment.
Titus Salt
This reform era attempted to modernize the Ottoman state with new schools, factories, and legal changes but struggled against internal resistance.
Tanzimat
This process in 18th-century England fenced off shared village lands, forcing small farmers off the countryside and increasing agricultural efficiency.
Enclosure
This 19th-century process blew air into molten iron to remove impurities, making steel cheaper and revolutionizing construction.
Bessemer Process
These six English farm workers were arrested in 1834 for forming a secret union, becoming symbols of the struggle for workers’ rights.
Tolpuddle Martyrs
Adam Smith argued that competition and self-interest guide the economy through this “invisible” force.
The "Invisible Hand"
During Japan’s rapid industrialization, the government sold factories to powerful family-owned business conglomerates known by this term.
Zaibatsus